Hand truck



"March 30 1926. l

' w. A. HEATH HAND TRUCK .Fi'led Dec. a, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented Mar. 30, 1926.

PATENTo i 'WALTER A.. HEATH, OF CHICAGO,ILLI1TOIS.`

HAND TRUCK. j

Application led December 8, 1924. Serial No. 754,543.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WAL'rER A. Hamme citizen of the United States, residin ,atChicago, inthe county of Cook andv tate of Ilhnois, have invented certain'new and usefulIm rovements in Hand Trucks, of which the folibwing is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and improved truck and more particularly, to a and truck es ecially adapted for the han-l dling of sacked) cement or similar material.

'As now commercially produced, the lacked cement is delivered over a chute from which it is loaded on to a truck by hand. The truck is braced by the body of the workman and held adjacent the chute and the sacks are pulled over the edge of the chute and dropped by gravity to pile one upon the other upon the truck. lVith usual types of trucks having flat aprons, it is necessary in dumping the truck to throw it well beyond the vertical and to swing the truck from side to side to get the apron out from under the sacks. The sacks are ynotl piled vertically, but at an angle with a consequent loss of storage space in the warehouse or freight car into which they are dumped from the truck.

It is an'object of the present invention to provide a truck adapted for .the handling of sacked material and adapted to dump thesacks into a substantially vertical pile and to be freed from the dumped sacks by but slight effort.

It is a further object to provide a truck of this character provided with a fiat surface adapted to cooperate with the wheels to form supports for the truck, so that it will stand when loaded.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

I have illustrated a preferred form of truck together with the method of operation in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of a truck;

Figure 2 is a View of Figure 1 as seen from the right.;

Figure 3 1s a fragmentary view partly in section, showing the wheel construction Figure 4 is a view illustrating the method of loading the trucks;

Figure 5 is a view illustrating the method of dumping the trucks, and- Figure 6 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale, showing the action in dumping the truck.

Fries.,

The truck comprises the side framermembers 11 from the upper ends of which extend the handles 12. The members 11 are connected by the cross frame members 13 and 14 as shown in Figure 2. The cover plate 15 is secured to the truck frame. j lower ends of the members 11 are secured the rocker plates 16. These plates 'receive the apron or toe-plate 17. The rocker plates are provided with a fiat surface 18 joined to a forward fiat surface 19 by the short arc 20. The axle 21. connects thevtwo rocker plates 16 and carries the separator 22, which has the two flat bearings 23 lengaging the wheels. rllhe wheels 24 are :hown as carriedupon roller bea-rings 25, the latter bearing against carried by the axle 21.

As is shown in Figure 1, the fiat surface 18 of the rocker plate is so related to the .wheels 24. that the truck will stand by rest- .ing on the surface 18 in combination with the wheels. Referring now to Figure 4, the sacks of cement 30 are delivered by belt conveyor 31 to `the discharge chute 32. IThis 4 the spindle 26*Y To uw chute 32 is connected to thc inclined loading l face 33. As will be apparent from any exj amination of Figure 41, the surface 33 is located substantially parallel to the cover 1 plate, or main body of the truck when the truck is brought adjacent the chute for loading and lowered to be supported upon the flat surfaces 18 and wheels 34.

The workman standing behind the truck reaches forward over the truck and drags the sacks of cement over the edge of the chute so that they drop upon the truck in the Inanner shown. When the truck has received a normal load, the center of gravity is very nearly over the axle and in advance of it.

It vtherefore requires but slight labor totilt j the truck backward, so as to clear the surface 18 from the ground.

The truck is then wheeled to the point where the sacks are to be piled. It is then swung forward until the surface 18 engages the ground and but slight effort is then necessary to swing it forward over the rounded surface 20 and tobring the fiat surface 19 into engagementwith the bar. The weight of the sacks of cement upon the apron or toe-plate 17 has a s ueezing or pinchin action upon the forwar ortion of the truc r due to the angular relation of the toe-plate 17 and the bearing surfaces 19. The toe-plate is thus practically squeezed kamount of actual labor required from the workman handling the truck, but enables him to accomplish loading, and more particularly, dumping with a less expenditure of time.` It also enables the sacks to be dumped in a pile substantially vertical and there vis no disruption of the pile by pulling out the bottom sack while swinging or twisting a truck to get its toe-plate .out from under the sack. The truck therefore, mm1- mizes labor cost and also permits the storage of a greater number of sacks in a smaller storage space.

I have shown one preferred form of construction in detail, but it is to be understood that I contemplate such changes and modifications as come withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a hand truck, a truck body,r wheels secured to the truck, rocker members secured to the lower portion of the truck and a toeplate extending across the rocker members, the rocker members having bearing portions adapted to engage the ground in advance of the wheels to support the truck together with the wheels while the truck :is in a loading position,I with the toeplate horizontal, and additional bearing surfaces located in advance of the first bearing surfaces relation therewith, the latter Abearing surfaces being adaptedto engage thev ground when the truck is swungto unloading position. l

2. In a hand truck, a truck body, wheels secured to the truck, rocker members secured to the lower portion ofthe truck, bearing surfaces on the rocker members forwardk of the wheels adapted to engage the ground while the wheels touch the ground, additional bearing surfaces adapted tov engage thev ground when the truck is tilted forward, and a toe plate extending between the bearing members, the toe p ate being substantially horizontal when the first bearing surface engage the ground and sloping toward the ground when the additional bearing surfaces engage the ground.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this third day of December. 1924;

WALTERv A. HEATH.

and having an angular.Y 

